Slow Cooker Louisiana-Style Red Beans and Rice

posted by Kalyn Denny on February 15, 2017

This Slow Cooker Louisiana-Style Red Beans and Rice is a recipe I’ve loved for years, and it’s dairy-free, gluten-free, low-glycemic, and South Beach Diet Phase Two; use the Diet-Type Index to find more recipes like this one.

Mardi gras is coming up this weekend, and that makes me think of this Slow Cooker Louisiana-Style Red Beans and Rice, a recipe I’ve been making for years and years now. This Slow Cooker Red Beans and Rice has a surge of popularity every so often on the blog, and if you’ve never tried it this would be a fun one to make over the weekend, even if you don’t have any Mardi Gras beads! I also love Slow Cooker Red Beans and Rice Soup, if you’d like a slightly different take on this New Orleans classic. I use low-glycemic Uncle Ben’s Converted Rice for both these recipes, and I bet this would also be pretty good with cauliflower rice if you wanted to try reducing the carbs even more.

I make Slow Cooker Red Beans and Rice the way I enjoyed it in New Orleans, with a scoop of rice over the creamy beans. I first went to New Orleans sometime in the early 1990s, attending the National Education Association Representative Assembly, representing my local teacher’s association. Of course, I was captivated by the food, and I tried many things that I’d never eaten before.

I went back to New Orleans several more times for meetings, and one dish I always sampled whenever I saw it on the menu was Red Beans and Rice, which I came to realize was one of those dishes that every Louisiana cook makes just a little differently.

After one of my visits to New Orleans, I started experimenting until I came up with my own version of Slow Cooker Louisiana Style Red Beans and Rice, and it’s one of those recipes that has evolved through the years. There’s something so comforting about this dish, where long-cooked creamy beans are topped with a scoop of rice, and it’s a perfect side dish for so many foods. And my Slow Cooker Red Beans and Rice will freeze very well, and I’d love to have some of this in my freezer!

I used dried red beans which I cooked in the pressure cooker to make this, but you can also cook the beans on top of the stove, or use canned red beans if you prefer. If you’re cooking beans in the pressure cooker or in a pot on the stove, let them get fairly soft, then drain well. If you use canned beans, I’d rinse them and drain well too. I usually make this with lean ham, but I couldn’t resisit using these Louisiana Hot Sausages I found in the freezer.

Whichever type of meat you use, you need about 3 cups of diced sausage or ham. Cut it into pieces which aren’t much bigger than the cooked beans. Dice a large onion into small pieces and saute in olive oil for about 5 minutes, until the onion is starting to brown, then add minced garlic and cooked about 1 minute more. Then add Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning (or other Creole seasoning of your choice), dried thyme, and dried oregano and saute the spices and herbs for 1-2 minutes more. Add the onion mixture to the crockpot.

Then add the cooked beans, diced sausage or ham, chicken stock, Worcestershire sauce, Green Tabasco (or red Tabasco), bay leaves, and a touch of red wine vinegar. Let this cook on high for 4-8 hours, until the beans are dissolved as much as you prefer. I suppose it’s a personal preference, but I like to cook this until the beans are at least 3/4 broken apart and dissolved into the liquid. Serve hot, with a scoop of cooked Uncle Ben’s Converted Rice on top of the beans.

Directions:

If using dried beans, soak overnight and cook on stove until they are fairly soft, or cook in pressure cooker about 25 minutes. Drain beans. If using canned beans, rinse with cold water until no more foam appears, then drain.

Cut ham or sausage into small pieces, about the size of cooked beans.

Heat olive oil in a heavy frying pan, then saute diced onion about 5 minutes, or until onion starts to brown.

Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
With a small serving of beans and using Uncle Ben’s Converted Rice, this Slow Cooker Louisiana-Style Red Beans and Rice would be a good side dish for phase 2 or 3 of the South Beach Diet. Uncle Ben’s Converted Rice is par-boiled, which makes it the most low-glycemic type of white rice. However, even with Uncle Ben’s Rice, this is probably too high in carbs for most traditional low-carb diet plans.

Nutritional Information?
If you want nutritional information for a recipe, I recommend entering the recipe into this nutrition analyzer, which will calculate it for you. Or if you’re a member of Yummly, you can use the Yum button on my site to save the recipe and see the nutritional information there.

85 comments on “Slow Cooker Louisiana-Style Red Beans and Rice”

Comment navigation

Muggle I usually mention it in the recipe instructions if a recipe freezes well. If you enter "freezes well" into the search bar, you can find those recipes. In general, most of the soup recipes can be frozen.

Made this today. My mother is from New Orleans and red beans and rice is her "go to" dish on days when lots of family are descending at different times. Hers can be too bland sometimes. Like the spiciness here, but overdid it. Only had red tabasco, and probably didn't reduce the amount enough. Like another poster I made my own Creole Seasoning using a version of Emeril's online recipe. Does anyone know what the green tabasco to red tabasco ratio might be? Will definitely make again, adjusting the heat down a bit.

Claire, here's what Wikipedia says about the relative spiciness of the various Tabasco sauces:

"The original red variety of Tabasco pepper sauce measures 2,500-5,000 SCU on the Scoville scale. The habanero sauce is considerably hotter, rating 7,000-8,000 Scoville units. The chipotle sauce adds chipotle pepper to the original sauce, measuring 2,000-2,500. The garlic variety, which blends milder peppers in with the tabasco peppers, rates 1,200-1,800 Scovilles, and the green pepper (jalapeño) sauce is even milder at 600-800 Scovilles. The Sweet and Spicy sauce is the mildest at only 100-600 Scoville units."

Based on that, the red sauce is considerably hotter than the green! (I was surprised it was so different, even though I knew the red was a lot hotter.)

I've been making this with chicken sausage and using garlic powder/onion powder/smoked paprika/cayenne for the seasoning blend. It doesn't really seem like a light summer dish, but I love using my crock pot in the summer so the house doesn't get so hot. Great recipe!

Just made this for dinner and it turned out delicious! I used kielbasa since that is what I had in the freezer. This will definately become part of the dinner rotation. I just wish I had made a double batch so we would have had more leftovers.

Just loved this – thank you! I didn't have quite the right amount of hot sausage and had a cooked chicken breast waiting to be used up, so I chopped it fine and added it. It didn't detract from the flavor at all and the slight variation in texture between that, the sausage and the beans turned out quite nicely. I also didn't want to use any rice so I subbed in riced-cauliflower stir fry. Very very good, amazing flavor, and I'll definitely make again. Thanks so much!

Barb, I don't believe a high smoke point oil is needed for sauteeing onions, and I prefer the flavor of olive oil in a dish like this. However, if you prefer coconut oil, then by all means that's what you should use.

Hi Kalyn, I am excited to try this recipe tonight. I have a quick question-the sausage I bought isn't pre cooked, and I realize doesn't look the hot links on the blog. Should I cook the sausages in advance at all, or can they be diced and put straight into the crockpot to be cooked? I ask because in some slow cooker recipes that I've used, the sausage needs to be cooked first.

Sorry, but since I've never done it that way I wouldn't be able to guess how to make it work. I'm not sure there is enough added liquid here to cook rice. Maybe try Google for a recipe that cooks them together?

I wish I could tell you, but I made this in 2010 with some hot sausage I used to buy at Costco, and they don't have it any more. If you can find them, one brand I do love is the AmyLu Chicken Andouille Sausage I used in this recipe. I would use that now if I had it!

This is in the crock pot right now! I used lean ham. The color of the broth is lighter in color than yours. I assume it's because you used hot links. It's also pretty soupy even after cooking for 5 hours. I will mash the beans as others suggested. It smells and tastes amazing!

Good recipe, although as a Louisiana native, we've always included celery in our red beans. Sometimes I'll use a smoked turkey leg rather than sausage, makes for really creamy beans. Also, since Marci Gras is celebrated on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, the day shifts every year, so this year it's on 2/28/2017. It's all good, though, as we have parades throughout the 2 weeks before. Laissez les bons temps rouler!

I see recipes where people like to use Uncle Bens and that is probably what my mom used when I was growing up. But I have learned how to cook raw rice and that is what I use. I find rice is easy to cook and pretty much hands off, but it does take a bit more time. I just prefer raw cooked rice to the par boiled stuff. Not a criticism just my preference. Got me hankering for some red beans and rice. 😉 I usually cook a vegetarian version.

The difference is that Uncle Ben's is more low-glycemic (doesn't raise blood sugar) than other types of rice, so it's better for people following a carb-conscious diet of any type. But everyone gets to make their own food choices; that has always been my philosophy!

Will cooking this dish on low for 8 hours instead of high work out as well? Im using canned beans. I just dont want to end up with a burnt mess if I do the on high for 8 hours. I just want to get the maximum flavor.

I prefer this dish the way it's served in New Orleans, with the beans starting to break apart and partly dissolved into the liquid. But definitely it won't hurt to cook on 8 hours on low. If it doesn't seem as done as you'd like at that point, just switch to high and cook a bit longer. Enjoy!

You can simplify this recipe by simply soaking dried beans over night (Place beans in a suitable container, cover with cold water, cover and allow to soak). In the morning, drain the beans, place drained beans in crock pot with seasonings and meat and cook about three hours on low. No need to precook–dirties too may dishes!!!